The borough has answered follow-up questions from federal officials on the community’s $42 million, three-project waterfront development and water system grant request and hopes for a decision by late summer.

The federal grant would be combined with $10.6 million in borough funds to pay for extensive work and improvements at the 6-Mile Mill property for maritime and industrial tenants; adding fill to expand the downtown waterfront and extending the City Dock; and constructing a new flume to direct more water into the town’s reservoirs.

“This grant represents a generational opportunity to implement a coordinated, three-project portfolio designed to move Wrangell from recovery to long-term economic resilience and growth,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma reported to the assembly in March, soon after City Hall had submitted its grant application.

Wrangell is requesting the federal funds through the Economic Development Administration’s Industry Transformation Pathway Grant.

The estimated cost for the three projects totals $54 million, scaled back from a rough estimate this past winter of about $65 million.

The borough received “positive remarks in the early review” of its application, said Kate Thomas, economic development director.

Villarma spent the first week of June in Washington, D.C., meeting with agency officials and Alaska’s congressional delegation, answering questions and promoting the projects. He said he came away from the meetings hopeful — and optimistic.

Borough officials have responded to all of the questions submitted by the grant program’s internal review committee, he said.

Now all the town can do is wait.

The three projects included in the grant request are:

6-Mile deepwater port

development project

Villarma describes this as “the cornerstone of Wrangell’s industrial transformation strategy,” adding, “this project converts a largely underutilized 42-acre site into a fully serviced marine industrial hub capable of supporting shipyard-scale operations, freight consolidation and heavy industrial activity.”

The project includes shoreline stabilization, utility extensions, roadways and power to the lots.

The estimated cost totals $38.4 million, with $30.7 million from the federal grant and a borough match of $7.7 million.

The assembly has approved a 40-year lease for Alaska Marine Lines to build and operate a new barge ramp and freight operation on the property, with AML expecting to submit its development permit request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers later year.

The borough also is working with JAG Marine Group, the operator of the state-owned shipyard at Ketchikan, to examine the economic feasibility of building and running a shipyard at the 6-Mile site.

The Economic Development Administration grant, if approved, would pay for ground work and utilities, not the shipyard development. The borough and JAG are working together with a consultant on a project design to go after additional federal funding for the development, along with commitments that U.S. Coast Guard or other federal agencies would use the facilities.

Downtown waterfront

expansion project

This project includes adding a floating extension and a new mooring dolphin to the City Dock to increase its versatility for ships to offload passengers at high and low tides. The borough collects higher fees from cruise lines when they tie up at the dock rather than anchor offshore and lighter their passengers into town.

The project work list also includes new fill along the waterfront between the dock and the Marine Service Center, with utilities, so that the area could be developed to “support local businesses, cultural tourism and community-centered economic activity,” Villarma reported to the assembly this spring.

The redevelopment would include the area currently used as a freight yard, with those operations moving to 6-Mile after AML constructs its new barge ramp at that location.

The borough already has approved a lease with American Cruise Lines for the company to construct a floating dock off the new fill, to better accommodate its ships that stay in town overnight. The company would pay to build the dock and ramp, and pay lease fees for its use of borough tidelands.

The waterfront work is estimated at $12.6 million, with $10.05 million from the federal grant and $2.51 million from the borough.

The local match to obtain the federal grants could come from lease fees on borough property and municipal reserve funds.

Reservoir flume

replacement project

At a total estimated cost of $1.99 million, the work would include building a new concrete flume to replace the dilapidated and leaking wood flume that directs water into the town’s reservoirs.

The grant request is for $1.59 million, with a borough match of $397,000.

The project “addresses one of Wrangell’s most critical underlying constraints — water reliability,” Villarma said in a report to the assembly. The existing flume poses a risk during peak demand periods and limits the borough’s ability to expand industrial and residential capacity, he explained.